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“Yes. I am.” She looked up at him, eyes earnest. “Thank you for everything, Wes. For the drive. For being so good with the kids. For all of it.”

For kissing you? He knew she wasn’t going to thank him for that.

“You’re welcome,” he said quietly. “I’m glad we could coordinate schedules.”

Before he knew quite what she intended, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him in a quick hug then rose on her toes to press a light kiss against his cheek. It was over almost before it began, but his skin tingled where her lips had touched. That brief contact rocked him far more than it should have.

“Goodbye, Wes,” she said, her voice husky.

He nodded, forcing himself to turn toward the door before he made a fool of himself and reached for her again. “Text me if you need anything.”

He walked back out into the swirling snow, the wind cutting sharper now that he was alone again. As he climbed into the truck, Kodi whined to be let out. “A few more minutes, bud,” he said as he backed out of the driveway and headed down the street toward his grandfather’s empty house.

Part of him wished all the projects were done so he could pack up his tools and his dog and keep on driving toward home, before he let himself yearn for her more than he already did.

But another part wondered how on earth he was supposed to walk away a second time and pretend that his heart wasn’t staying behind.

Chapter 29

“You seriously drove all the way to Utah with Wes Kenner and he lived to tell about it?” Natalie Taylor looked astonished.

Hannah frowned at her friends, who had gathered for an impromptu holiday celebration and gift swap a week before Christmas, something they tried to do every year with limited success.

This time they were at Natalie’s beautiful house overlooking the town and the lake.

“It was no big deal,” Hannah lied. “He was heading there and I wanted to take the children down to see Morgan for her birthday. We were going to the same place so it made perfect sense to carpool. Everything was fine.”

The response to her words, as she might have expected, was varying degrees of doubt.

Having good friends who had known her most of her life was definitely a mixed blessing. Yes, their long relationships meant Hannah knew without question they would always support her. But it also meant they knew her far too well and could easily see through her protestations.

“Oh sure. No big deal at all,” Amanda Arredondo said dryly. “You just took a seven-hour road trip with the man who broke your heart.”

“Fourteen hours, round trip,” Holly added helpfully from the sofa.

“Awkward,” McKenna pronounced, shaking her head.

Heat crept up the back of Hannah’s neck. She shifted in her chair, wishing she could think of a quick way to steer the conversation in a different direction.

Below them, Shelter Springs twinkled in the December night, the town lights reflecting off the lake. Inside, the house looked like something out of a holiday catalog, with a tall Christmas tree glowing in one corner and garlands wrapped in ribbon and tiny pine cones adorning the fireplace mantel.

“It really wasn’t a big deal,” Hannah insisted. “Wes and I are friends. Everything between us was a long time ago, and I am completely over him.”

“Liar,” Holly whispered, just loud enough for Hannah to hear.

While all of her friends could see through her, Holly was next level. Her sister often knew what she was thinking before Hannah did.

She kept her gaze on the mug of mulled wine in her hands, trying not to let anything show on her face. The last thing she wanted was for Holly to realize how much trouble her heart was in again.

For one small, cowardly second, she wished she hadn’t come tonight. But she loved these women, loved this imperfect annual tradition of squeezing in one night together during the busiest month of the year.

They had all grown and changed in the last few years.

Natalie, curled into the corner of the sectional in leggings and a soft sweater, had a new baby at home, a beautiful boy who was already the center of her and Griffin’s world. She had that tired, radiant look of new motherhood, and every time she mentioned her husband’s name she smiled without seeming to realize it.

Amanda, Griffin’s sister, looked more relaxed than Hannah had ever seen her in December.

She and Rafe had been together two years now, and Amanda adored his son, Isaac, as if he were her own. For the first time in years, she wasn’t single-handedly running the town’s holiday market, though her store, the Lucky Goat, still had its usual booth there.